Douglas 4th of July Parade Marshals

Levi Kearney and Dean Ruby

June 13th Juneau Empire article (external link)

Levi Kearney

Levi (Lee) Kearney has been with the U.S. Postal Service for 30 years.  He started when he was 20 years old.

He was born in Juneau to Ken and Beverly Kearney. He was raised in Juneau with 2 older brothers, Kenneth Jr. and John. He is a fourth generation Alaskan.  His great-grandparents, Jonathan Penglase and Catherine Cashen were married and buried in Douglas.

Levi attended St. Ann’s Catholic School for 2nd grade.  When he was 14, he won the Montana Creek trout fishing derby.  He graduated from Juneau Douglas High School.

In 1997, Levi won the Alaska State Bowling Tournament Singles Championship. He scored a 794 with handicap.

Dean Ruby

Dean Ruby was born & raised in the southern Ohio hill country where he attended schools and graduated in 1979 from Valley High School.  He joined the U.S. Air Force in the same year. His active career took him to Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City, SD, where he worked on the Minuteman Missile System. In 1984 on to Ground Launched Cruise Missile System, 1986 Comiso Air Station, Sicily, Italy. 1987 was at Florennes Air Base in Belgium. He was reassigned to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, AZ.

There is where he met and married his wife, Cindy and started their family.  They have their son, Ryan and daughter, Rikki.  In 1990 he went back with the Minuteman Missile System, Minot Air Base in ND.   He and his family left the Air Force in 1992.  They traveled the Alcan Highway to Skagway and down to Juneau via the Alaska Marine Highway System.

He started with the U.S. Postal Service in 1995 at the Mendenhall Station nights distributing mostly incoming mail.  “An opening at the Douglas Station came up early 1999 & I was lucky enough to get it.  I have enjoyed working there with Lee and serving the wonderful people of Douglas & Juneau ever since.”